The present disclosure generally relates to a lens assembly for directing image light to a user's eye, and specifically relates to attenuation of the Narcissus effect associated with a pancake lens assembly that focuses the image light to the user's eye.
A pancake lens assembly can be integrated into an optical assembly of a head-mounted display (HMD) in order to focus image light emitted from an electronic display to an eye of a user wearing the HMD. The pancake lens assembly generally relies on polarization of image light to minimize stray light and obtain a preferred image contrast. In the conventional configuration, the pancake lens assembly is capable of reflecting a certain amount of light reflected and/or scattered by a human face (e.g., at least one surface of a user's eye, facial skin, eye lashes, etc.) back to the user's eye. This effect is called the Narcissus effect, as the user's eye is seeing itself in reflection from some of reflecting surfaces of the pancake lens assembly. These reflections are undesirable, and can be bothersome to the user.